


a hair's breadth

by makiyakinabe



Category: Thunderbolt Fantasy 東離劍遊紀 (TV)
Genre: Episode 5, M/M, Missing Scene, preslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-22 22:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8303312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makiyakinabe/pseuds/makiyakinabe
Summary: Shang Bu Huan worries. Gui Niao finds his concern to be quite touching.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Filigranka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Filigranka/gifts).



As far as Shang Bu Huan was concerned, the less he knew about Gui Niao, the better. Men like Gui Niao were a yuan a dozen, with their twinkling eyes, easy smiles, words smooth as honey and demeanors so unflappably cheerful they had to be hiding something. He may be a newcomer to the land, but he was no fool. The company that sneaky bastard keeps—the Sharp-eyed Impaler, the demoness Night's Lament, and the newest member of their small group of adventurers, the Screaming Phoenix Killer  _to whom Gui Niao promised his own head in exchange for aid—_

It's just a hunch, but Gui Niao was probably a bigger pain in the ass than he made himself out to be. And Shang Bu Huan's got enough on his plate without looking for more, alright?

Or so he told himself.

Well, tried to.

It was one thing for Gui Niao to laugh and joke as though he wasn't stealthily guiding them into position, like pieces on a xiangqi board. It was another for both Night's Lament and Screaming Phoenix Killer to look at Gui Niao with utter loathing and yet, for all the insults and vague accusations they spat out, deigned to ally themselves with him _anyway_. They were such untrustworthy allies that Shang Bu Huan wouldn't be surprised to wake up one day to find Gui Niao missing his head and the Seal Guardian, the crossguard of the Sword of Divine Retribution that had been in her safekeeping.

So it was absolutely not out of a sense of niggling curiosity that he went to Gui Niao's room looking for answers. Of course not.

Gui Niao was seated at the table, twirling his silver pipe with one hand, when Shang Bu Huan strode into the room. "Ah," he said, sounding pleasantly surprised. "Our mysterious traveller from the West. What brings you here so late at night, if I may ask?"

Shang Bu Huan tamped down a sharp surge of irritation—Mysterious?  _Him?_ This was as ridiculous as a turtle mocking its cousin for being tailless!—in favor of closing the paper doors behind him. "I wanted to know what you're playing at, is all." Turning back to face Gui Niao, he folded his arms. "You've said over and over how important this quest is, how if we don't make it humanity is doomed, but then you act like it's all a game to you."

Gui Niao lifted the pipe to his lips, and inhaled.

Shang Bu Huan mentally steeled himself for another of the sneaky bastard's strange opium-fueled illusions, but other than Gui Niao taking his sweet time smoking, nothing happened.

Gui Niao's face was the very picture of disappointment when he lowered the pipe, cloying smoke wafting from his pursed lips. "Really, you're no fun at all." His voice was deceptively light. "It's not every day you get the chance to go a-questing three of the most powerful people in the Secluded West."

"Don't you mean 'four'?"

Gui Niao cocked an eyebrow. "Ah, yes. My mistake. Our Seal Guardian, the fair Tan Hi, is of course very powerful in her own right—"

"Stop deflecting," snapped Shang Bu Huan. "I'm talking about _you_." Striding across the floor, he leaned over to point an accusing finger at Gui Niao's face. "Mr. I-Know-Some-People-Who-Can-Help-Us. How do you know them? How did you get them to ally with us? What did you promise them apart from your own head—oho, let me guess, _you promised all three of them that your head was theirs for the taking._ "

"Oh, my." Head cocked to the side, Gui Niao looked at Shang Bu Huan through slitted eyes. His lips curved into a smile. "Are you worrying about me? How very gallant of you, Mr. Shang Bu Huan."

"Oi oi, I never said that—"

Gui Niao laughed, delighted. "You've been dying of curiosity, haven't you? Of how I came to meet Xing Hai and Sha Wu Sheng. Of how I earned their undying hatred, what I took from them both. This is what you've come to see me for, isn't it?" Leaning in, his fingers curled around Shang Bu Huan's wrist. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. Xing Hai  _is_ bewitchingly beautiful and Sha Wu Sheng  _is_ quite the looker. If you really do want to know..." Gui Niao traced a line across the wrist, his touch as light as a finger. "I don't mind showing you."

Shang Bu Huan jerked his hand back like he'd been burned.

"Oi! That wasn't why I came! I, well—I mean—I—Oh, forget it. Forget all of this. It never happened, alright? _Nothing happened._ "

"But Mr. Shang Bu Huan," said Gui Niao, the sneaky, conniving bastard, peering up at Shang Bu Huan through soft lashes, "why else would you visit my room in the middle of the night?"

 

* * *

 

Shang Bu Huan's yell of mortification was so loud it could be heard from miles away.

**Author's Note:**

>  _yuan_ \- Chinese coin
> 
>  _xiangqi_ \- [Chinese chess](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi)
> 
>  _a turtle mocking its cousin for being tailless_ \- adapted from the Chinese saying 'the turtle makes fun of the trionychidae for its lack of a tail' (龜笑鱉無尾)


End file.
